We just completed our tour of Japan with Eluveitie!Thank you to the bands, promoters and most of all, the fans!

Show 1 Tokyo - Club Cyclone -Nothing like a sold out show to kick off the opening night of the tour. The venue is an awesome spot in Shibuya, located in the basement of an old hotel, After first thinking our dressing room doubled up as a canteen, we were delighted to find out that it was actually our rider. We were opening the first night and hit the stage to play infant of 120 eager fans. Even though the show kicked off at 6:30 pm, Japanese fans, known for their punctuality were down early to witness each of the 4 bands on the lineup. With battle armour intact and helmets avoiding confiscation at the airport, Hybrid Nightmares rocked out to the enthusiastic crowd and were very well received.

Show 2 Tokyo Duo ExchangeWith last night’s warmup show out of the way it was now time for the biggest show of the tour at Tokyo’s Duo Exchange. Only three blocks away from the previous night saw a return of many familiar faces and a host of new metalhead flocking to the venue. First up were Abinchova, another folk metal group from Switzerland who’s combination of violin, keyboard and a triple vocal attack had audiences captivated. We were up next and played to a fairly full room of 600 people. There is truly nothing like a Japanese crowd - whether there is 10, 100, 1000 or 10,000 people in the room, they get totally consumed by every aspect of the show and respond to every incentive to mosh with great enthusiasm and action. Our set was a blur of fist pumping to the beat, clapping along to breakdowns and tearing it up in circle pits every time the riff commanded it. We left the stage feeling like huge rockstars and very welcomed by our Japanese hosts. Post set was 2 hours of posing for photos with delighted new fans and the odd person who strayed past the front of the venue and thought we were a much more famous band.

Show 3 Nagoya-The third stop on our tour was in the beautiful city of Nagoya. Two hours from Tokyo on the bullet train it was amazing to see that we still hadn’t left the city and that high rises, big apartment buildings and neon billboards were still the norm. With a capacity of 200 people we were delighted to have our tour manager confirm a sold out show moments before we hit the stage. We proceeded to roll out our set to a relentless audience hell bent on mashing, fist pumping and moshing to every moment of every song. It was great to see a few familiar faces from the night before and post set we engaged in our new favourite pass time of posing for selfies with eager fans.

Show 4 Osaka -Any international band knows that Melbourne is the heart and soul of live music in Australia. Osaka is the Melbourne of Japan, and despite being a smaller show than Tokyo’s Duo Exchange, the Osaka fans gave it there all. 400 People crammed into a 3 level opened up underground basement (which I’m sure they use for robot fights every other day of the week) was an unreal experience and one we can’t wait to return back to. We couldn’t have asked for a better show to cap off an already amazing tour and want to Eluveitie for having us and every single person who came to the shows.